Carson City (pop. 58,639) is the capital of Nevada and a tourist center. It lies at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, near the Nevada-California border.
The Carson City area has many places of historical interest. About 30 houses in the city date from the mining days of the 1800’s. The Nevada State Museum building located in Carson City once housed a United States mint that coined gold and silver from 1870 to 1893.
A land speculator named Abraham Curry founded Carson City in 1858. He named it after the famous frontier scout Kit Carson. In 1859, prospectors discovered a rich deposit of silver ore, the Comstock Lode, near Carson City (see Comstock Lode ). The town grew quickly as a mining supply center. Carson City became the capital of the Nevada Territory in 1861 and the state capital in 1864.
Carson City served as the seat of Ormsby County until 1969, when the city and county merged and became the independent city of Carson City. It is now considered both a city and a county. A board of supervisors and a city manager head the government.
During the late 1900’s and the first two decades of the 2000’s, Carson City grew rapidly. Its population rose from 32,022 in 1980 to 58,639 in 2020.
